The Blue Meanie has a new owner

[Minidave]

It's on it's way tonight to Lamoni, Iowa......he just picked it up.........

Since he's only a couple hours north of us I hope he can join us occasionally for one of our events.

It was a great car for me - reliable, fast and so much fun to drive, I'm gonna miss him!

Fortunately, I still have the clubby - Max - for my MINI-fix.

[toeknee]

I knew you had the intention of selling it, but I guess I never believed it would actually go. I will miss seeing him around, but am sure you found a great new owner.

It's on it's way tonight to Lamoni, Iowa......he just picked it up.........

Since he's only a couple hours north of us I hope he can join us occasionally for one of our events.

It was a great car for me - reliable, fast and so much fun to drive, I'm gonna miss him!

Fortunately, I still have the clubby - Max - for my MINI-fix.

[ksminiman]

Holy poop! I didnt think you'd sell him! I didnt get to have a ride either oh well. Glad you got him sold as you have been doing this for as long as I have known you and probably longer. Hopefully we see him again. Was the owner and active MINI person? or did they mention any plans to be involved in the MINI community? NAM at least? Just curious.

[Counterfit_Mini]

Congrats on getting him sold. he was a good car. Very nice and quick too.

[Spart]

Everybody calm down!

My name's James, and I'm an addict.

I had a Mazda RX-8 for about a year. It's a good all-rounder, but a particularly good driver's car. I never get sick of the sound that rotary makes blasting to almost 10,000RPM.



Then, three days after the warranty had expired, I was driving along I70 doing nothing fancy and the clutch exploded:



Honestly, RX-8's aren't the most reliable cars, so I paid through the nose to have the dealership install a new clutch and and she has a happy new owner.

And yes, I just drove Blue Meanie up to Iowa:



He's a bit dirty, but it's going to be May before anything is dry up here. We still have piles of snow on the ground!

A buddy of mine is a big MINI fan too, he works for the PD in the town over (on nights currently) so I took Blue Meanie down the newly repaved and somewhat twisty bit of Highway 69 to go see him. The first s-curve on the east side of Lamoni was pretty awesome in 3rd gear.

The driving lights are great for spotting deer and other critters that are taller than the bottom of the bumper. Not a chance at getting them back, Dave!

All in all, not a bad first night with the car. He's going into the garage tomorrow and I'm coming back down to KCK in the Celica for some exciting hooah-hooah let's-play-Army stuff for the weekend.

[Spart]

Oh and I forgot to mention, heel-toe is sooo easy in these cars. Coming down to fourth and then third from fifth is pretty easy when you get the hang of the car.

[Minidave]

Wow! Brick roads!

Glad you made it home safe and sound, James.

Welcome to the madness!

[Spart]

Yup! You felt every one of those bricks in my old Tercel that I fitted with coilovers and aftermarket swaybars. Not bad in the Mini though. The town isn't too pretty right now but it cleans up nice in the spring!

[ksminiman]

James Welcome! you will have such a blast owning that car!

[toeknee]

Congrats, James, and welcome to the club and we hope to meet you at some of our events.

Yup! You felt every one of those bricks in my old Tercel that I fitted with coilovers and aftermarket swaybars. Not bad in the Mini
though. The town isn't too pretty right now but it cleans up nice in the spring!

I cannot even begin to imagine how rough the ride in your Tercel was to make driving the MINI on a brick road seem good in comparsion. My hometown has a few brick roads left and I can defiantly feel every one of them.

[LiLReD1]

Driven the Blue Meanie once, and you ended up with a nice car taken care of by an owner who takes pride in his vehicle's. I mean he doesn't even mod 'em! lol

[Minidave]

Red 1, he was in your 'hood all weekend too, playing Army at the Fort!

And thanks for the props guys and gals......I think James is happy with his new ride....hope so, anyway.

[Spart]

Enjoying him quite a bit, Dave! And yes, my unit was enjoying Range 1 at Ft. Riley, but I was stuck on range detail loading ammo and coaching people. I eventually had to "coach" someone into shooting a 36/40 while I shot a 15/40 for myself. I really want to try going out with 80 rounds next time and trying to shoot at least 23 in each lane.

Got back and the battery was dead. I had left it at my friend's house over the weekend (the guy who came with me to pick up the car) and he left the dome light on. No problem there, there was a charger right in front of the car in his garage. Got it running again and drove it out by Nine Eagles State Park. That road has a bunch of long, high-speed banked corners. Tons of fun.

[Minidave]

Nice!

See, that's what it's for.......

Now that you've put a few miles on it, how does the handling compare to the rear drive RX-8?

If you leave it alone for 3 weeks or a month, even with a new battery, it will go dead. Those computers must suck some serious juice. Best preventive measure? Drive it!

[Spart]

Both cars are very easy to drive fast. But the first thing to let go on the RX-8 was always the rear... and while it's a very controllable car when you're beyond the handling limit (i.e, sliding) it's still a bit scary on public roads. And since the DSC in the RX-8 comes down like a hammer on your driving activities, it's not much fun to drive with it on. In the Mini, you don't notice it as much.

The Mini is balanced better. You get some of everything depending on what you're doing, which is safer. I don't think I ever got the RX-8 to understeer.

Also, the Mini is easier to shift. For one, (I already mentioned this to you, Dave) the synchros are much lighter. It took a lot of muscle to quickly shift the RX-8 into second after redlining in first. Going back and forth between the RX-8 and the Celica, I would grind second every once in a while not expecting the shift to be so stiff.

Secondly, downshifting under braking is far easier because of the pedal placement. I think the pedals in the RX-8 were just too far apart, but maybe it was just me.

The RX-8 is scarier to drive, but the Mini is funner.

[LiLReD1]

And yes, my unit was enjoying Range 1 at Ft. Riley...

Uh, now yer in my backyard!

[Spart]

My Reserve unit goes there pretty frequently to train, the unit itself is on 78th Street in KCK. We did AT in Ft. Riley last year. This year is Ft. Hunter Liggett in Cali for three weeks in May (oh, joy. )

[LiLReD1]

I know exactly where that is. I grew up on 83rd st.

[Spart]

We're a fuel unit. I'm in the maintenance platoon as a welder.

Just got insurance on the Blue Meanie, $60 a month! The RX-8 was $115! Crikey!

[LiLReD1]

Bargain!

[Minidave]

Yeah, that sounds pretty good, depending on deductibles and such...

I was paying just over $500/year, and considering my "fleet" of cars and my *ahem* advanced age, $720/year is not bad

[MiniGeoff]

Wave when you bring the Mini through Bethany. I know there is a Checkmate JCW there. And I'm up there occasionally, my parents live in the dome there.

[Spart]

I was just in Bethany not an hour ago! Have some friends down there and it's home to the closest Wal-Mart from where I live (among a few other places I shop at.)

Haven't seen any MCS's around here, a few Justa's though.

The Blue Meanie is looking a little different since Sunday... lost the chrome on the washer nozzles, mirrors, tail lights, door handle scratch guards, side scuttles, beltline, bonnet scoop, and filler door. It's all black now. Also lost the sunroof wind deflector.

Lots of adhesive remover + rubbing compound + polishing compound and the only telltale that the wind deflector was ever there is slightly brighter paint. I'm happy with it for now, before I get the good guys at Collision Works in Bethany to paint the roof black.

[Minidave]

What did you decide to do about the arches?

Post up some pics once it's done, OK?

[Spart]

Not sure at this point Dave, I want to see what it looks like with some different wheels on it first and I might photochop the black bits on.

I think I've settled on these.